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Deep Dive – Instagram

So you downloaded Instagram, uploaded a few pictures (of course they are selfies! ), followed a few of your friends, added pictures of some flowers (hey, I have been guilty of that!), what next?

What does Instagram really do? In this article, we dig a little deeper and know how Instagram really functions and why you should even bother.

Instagram is a community of 200 million worldwide and is the app of choice to share pictures, especially among the next generation. A recent article says 76% of teens use Instagram and is now the most popular social media site among teenagers. Another article on TIME described how high school students are now using Instagram to help them in their college search.

Here are some of the features you can use that might help you showcase your art/hobby, plan your next vacation, or know about the culture of the country you want to know about (even if you are not travelling!)

Search & Explore: This feature helps you search for the celebrity, company, place or a person you want to follow. These days companies are sharing everything in their day, and you get a peek into what their life is about.

Geo-tagging: Say you want to research a particular college (this example is from the article mentioned above). You search the college and then in the tagged section of the user profile, you can see pictures of people who have been in or near that college. Mostly, these are pictures that were not sponsored by the college and hence are real experiences with that college.

Hashtags: Similar search works with hashtags (#). To participate in a contest/campaign or to create a campaign, a “#” is a great resource on Instagram. For example, when I search for “#AtoZChallenge” I can see the pictures of all those bloggers who are doing the same challenge.

Community: For example, if you have signed up for a Marathon , you can follow many running enthusiasts on Instagram and you get a sense of community and motivation to pursue your goal of running everyday.

Instagram for Business: There is paid as well as organic content on Instagram. Instagram would soon be rolling out analytics for business to better understand how much their content have engaged customers. They have already made it available for some of their advertisers.

Overall, Instagram is not just about selfies and you can use Instagram to your advantage. However, just like with any social media, you have to be careful about how much you share and really limit the amount of time you spend online.